


Teach me Something New

by SangriaKisses



Series: Have we Met Before? [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Temari swears in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 17:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21581161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SangriaKisses/pseuds/SangriaKisses
Summary: Temari never really enjoyed tutoring others.  Especially now having to tutor a certified genius.  He was lazy, frustrating and yet something about him felt so familiar and warm.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru & Temari, Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Series: Have we Met Before? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1546924
Kudos: 50





	Teach me Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers! This finishes up my "Have we Met Before" Series. It's a Modern Soulmate AU...you'll see when you read it lol  
> Either way, I hope that you enjoy it!

Temari made her way to the hill behind the science building. As part of her coursework, she was required to tutor a few hours a week. It amazed her that some of the people that she had tutored hadn’t already failed out of school. This experience had tried her patience but it was a necessary evil to graduate. So she had no choice but to suck it up and endure. This person though took the cake. Trying to contact him was like pulling teeth. He wouldn’t respond in a timely manner. And when he did he seemed genuinely confused about why she was contacting him but it was his professor that requested her. On top of his utter lack of regard for her time he requested that they meet for their tutoring sessions outside like some new-age professor. Normally she would have just dropped him but tutoring him would fulfill her last few hours so she needed to just grin and bear it. 

She found him at the top of the hill completely still and dead to the world. The wind was blowing sending a comforting breeze through the trees as the clouds layered the sky. 

“Are you Shikamaru?” She asked her figure casting a shadow over him. He opened up one eye to look at her before shutting them again without a response. 

‘Is this guy serious?’ She could feel the storms starting to brew. 

“Hey! Are you him or not?”

“Gah, troublesome.” He groaned shifting to his side away from her. 

Temari felt herself still. Why did that seem so familiar? She felt the world tilt before shaking her head. “What did you say?”

“Troublesome.” He repeated slower as if he wanted to get a rise out of her and still facing away. So she stormed over to his side placing her face inches away from his. 

“If you are him, I’m your fucking tutor and you will treat me with respect.” Rather than looking at her fearfully which is what she was going for he just peered back at her. Soft doe-like eyes wide and wondering. 

“What?” She mumbled pulling away slightly. 

“Have we met before?” He tilted his head to look at her. 

“What the fuck kind of a question is that? I just asked you who you were.” Her words may have been harsh but she couldn’t help but feel the same. Something about him seemed so familiar. 

Shikamaru just sighed rubbing his eyes. “Sorry. I have a pretty perfect memory so it’s gonna bother me that I can’t place who you are.” He kept staring at her as though he was trying to figure out a puzzle. 

“Look, Professor Sarutobi asked me to tutor you. Let’s just get through this and we’ll never have to talk again.” And yet, why did that idea feel so terrible? 

Groaning he sat up to look at her. “He worries too much. Let me explain, I don’t need a tutor.” 

She just stared at him confused. “What?”

“Yea, I use class time to sleep and doing the work in class sounds like an actual nightmare and more work than I’m willing to put in. So I just sleep thru them then ace the tests, midterms, and finals.

Temari just stared at him frustrated. “How...how is that possible? So you sleep through it and still pass?” 

He shrugged lying back down. “Basically.”

“Then why am I here?” 

“Asuma seems to believe that I have some kind of potential so my system won’t work with him. I’ve missed a bunch of assignments and the tests aren’t enough to make up for it. So he cut a deal. I get tutored, ace the final and I pass.” He explained annoyed. If he didn’t respect his teacher so much he would have dropped the class. 

“You expect me to believe that?”

“What a drag…” he groaned. 

“Stop doing that!” She demanded loudly. 

“Doing what?” He asked startled. 

Temari flushed and shook her head. She didn’t want to feed into his crazy idea that they’d met before but he was way too familiar for this to have been their first actual meeting. It was like experiencing déjà vu.

“Nothing. Okay prove it to me.”

He scrubbed a hand across his face. “Fine. Hand me the practice problems.” She handed him over the sheet that she’d typically give her students to test how much they knew before they dove into it. She wanted to slap the smirk off his face when they were completed perfectly in minutes.

“So you’re some kind of lazy genius?” 

“You got it Teach.” He replied returning his gaze to the sky. 

“What a waste of time! Now I have to find another person who actually needs to be tutored.”

“Look, I have to be here. You have to be here, let's just go through with it. Take this time to get your work done or relax if that’s possible.”

“I can relax!” She snapped. 

“Clearly. Just hang out with me for a few hours, cloud watch, I’ll teach you how to play Shogi then at the end of two weeks we move on with our lives.” It was a pretty great deal. She’d get her hours done and she wouldn’t have to “tutor” him. 

“Fine.” He grinned in victory at her and if her heart fluttered a little she’d never admit it. 

Temari laid next to him on the grass and stared up at the sky. How long had it been since she cloud watch? Actually, had she ever done so? 

“So what’s the real story? You’re clearly smart enough.”

Shikamaru just shrugged. “I’m content to live an average life. Marry a not too pretty, not too ugly girl. Have two kids and retire when my son makes something of himself and my daughter gets married.”

Temari just chuckled. “You have the same goals in this life too.”

“What did you say? 

She really needed to stop with these slips. “Nothing...I just feel like I’ve heard that spiel before. So that’s it then. You want nothing else out of life?”

“Meh, not really?”

Her hands clutched the grass below her. “You sound like such a cry baby! You have genius-level intellect and you don’t want to do anything with that because it’s too much work? You could change the world. You could change lives!” He looked at her surprised at how impassioned she was about his life. 

She got up hastily wondering where that came from. She didn’t typically become too concerned or invested in the lives of the people that she tutored but this was such a strange situation. “I’m sorry. We just met, I overstepped. If you’re okay with it I’ll just go. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Without a response, Temari made her way down the hill staring at her shadow. How could a genius, lazy, do nothing boy make her feel so off-kilter? This wasn’t who she was. She was unflappable and she wouldn’t allow some pineapple head know it all affect her. 

She wanted to avoid him but she wasn’t one to run from her problems. It was either him or some other annoying person. For all his faults he didn’t seem like the type to try to embarrass her. It would be too troublesome. The thought alone made her smile to herself. 

When she trudged up that hill he was in the exact same place that she met him the other day. “I’m uh sorry about yesterday…” She mumbled hating to admit it but it needed to be said. She was no one to him, it wasn’t right for her to berate his life choices. 

He just looked up at her surprised that she returned but thankful that she had. “I’m used to it, my mom nags me all the time.” He smirked to himself as she launched into a tirade but it amused him. He loved how her face flushed and how close she moved into his personal space. 

“You’re right, relaxing is clearly your strong suit.” He teased her shifting to his side. 

“I’ll show you!” She took her spot right next to him silence falling over them but it was comfortable and relaxing. For being two strangers that had no desire to be there it was a nice break from the daily chaos and pressure of life. 

Once she calmed down they fell into a familiar conversation. She was bright and could keep his attention for long stretches of time which was a feat in itself. He liked learning about her and yet talking to her was something that felt so sweet and familiar. 

Against all odds “tutoring” him had become one of the things she looked forward to the most. He taught her how to play shogi and she’d demand rematches promising that one day she’d beat him. They watched the clouds together and sometimes it would morph into stargazing. They talked about their lives, their pasts, her future. It was entirely new and still felt comforting, like seeing a friend after not speaking for years. She wouldn’t just do this with anyone but for whatever crazy reason she felt like she could trust him. She didn’t become close to people, being guarded protected her. But this strange genius made her feel like she could lower those walls. 

Temari hated the idea that in the end, they’d just be strangers again. She’d never call him a cry baby again and he’d never follow it up with her being troublesome. 

He’d never smile or smirk at her in that lazy way and she’d never play with his hair when his head would fall into her lap. They’d both graduate and pursue careers and lives that were entirely separate from each other and it all felt so wrong. As though _they_ were meant to build a life together, becoming some kind of power couple that the world had yet to see. She’d push him to accomplish more than he could have ever dreamed for himself. He’d ground her and force her to slow down and enjoy life. Alas, this wasn’t some fairy tale. Shikamaru would just be someone that she met in this lifetime and would never see again. 

The last day of their tutoring sessions came. He’d given her a glowing review and she assured Professor Sarutobi that he’d been a perfect student. She could tell that he didn’t believe her but accepted it nonetheless. 

They sat on their hill his head in her lap her fingers through his hair. He’d left it down today for her and she busied herself by playing with the soft strands. It was quiet as their inevitable end came barreling towards them. Neither of them wanted whatever this was to end and yet they couldn’t bring themselves to address it. 

“I uh...I decided to pursue a Master's.” He announced shattering the heavy silence. 

“What?” She asked surprised at the news. 

“Yea, I applied as a dare from Chouji and they accepted me. I turned in my paperwork yesterday.”

She smiled brightly at him, of course, that’s why he did it. “Congratulations Shika, I’m proud of you.”

He nodded his arms wrapping around her waist in familiarity. “Thanks, you inspired me to try. It’ll be long and troublesome but if you think that I can make even a little bit of a difference then it was worth it to try.”

Her heartbeat raced at the idea that she could have inspired such a thing. “You’ll do great.” She assured him incredibly proud. She knew just how much potential he had within him and she was glad that he was going to use it. He would change the world. 

Surprising her he sat up taking her hands in his. “Temari, I don’t like this.”

“What?”

“Why does it feel like we’re breaking up? Why does it feel like I’m losing you again?”

She felt tears building up in her eyes. “I don’t know Shika. Since we met it’s been bothering me. I know you, I don’t know how or why but I feel like somehow you’re mine. Here and now and a million other times before.”

He smiled softly at her feeling the same way. “Perhaps that’s true. Maybe someway or somehow we were meant to find each other in this life as we'd done before.” 

“You were probably just as lazy and as much of a crybaby before.” She grinned her fingers softly tracing over his cheeks. 

He leaned forward to place a soft kiss on her forehead. “And you probably nagged me into an early grave.” She just laughed in response her arms wrapping around him so she could rest her head over his heartbeat. 

Shikamaru tilted her chin up to meet her lips in a kiss. This demanding, slightly aggressive, beautiful and wonderful girl felt so perfect in his arms, like this was where she was always meant to be. Here with him as the wind wrapped around them. 

  
  
  
  


**Flashback**

_“Are you and mom soulmates?”_

_Shikamaru looked up from the shogi board surprised by his son’s question. “Where did you get that from?”_

_Shikadai just shrugged. “It came up in a book, I was reading.”_

_Shikamaru paused thinking through his response. Was it possible that he and Temari were fated to be together? The idea made him smile. Against all odds, they found each other in this lifetime. Why wouldn’t that be true in all other ones?_

_“You might be onto something.”_

_“I’m home!” They heard her announce._

_“Here’s some money go hang out with Boruto.” Shikadai groaned taking the bills from his father’s outstretched hand._

_“Are you guys going to be loving and gross?”_

_“Yes, appreciate the warning,” Shikamaru replied with a smirk._

_“Gah, what a drag…,” Shikadai complained but he should probably be grateful that his parents still loved each other and for the warning. There were too many close calls in this house._

_“Hi mom, bye mom.” Temari just stared after her son wondering about the odd greeting._

_“What was that about?” She asked her husband who came over to pull her into his arms._

_“He asked about soulmates.” Temari just smiled not needing any more of an explanation. They’d known each other for too long and they didn’t need many words between them._

_She turned in his arms and kissed him softly. “Soulmates huh?”_

_He just nodded lazily placing kisses along her neck. “You’re the rational one of the two of us. Think they’re real?”_

_“Yes.” Her eyes softened surprised by the simple and sure response. She kissed him praying that no matter where their lives may take them now in all the ones to come they’d find each other._

_He kissed her and her lips felt warm and familiar against his. They had fought for this life and future together. And he would do so in all their lifetimes._

_She smiled sweetly at him her teal eyes sparkling. How lucky she felt to have his heart and to live this life with him. “I do too. In all places, wherever the wind can reach, you’ll be mine and I’ll always be yours.”_

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I've read stories where Shika was her tutor but I wanted to flip it for this story. You can headcanon what they're going to school for. :D I could have made this a multi-chapter fic but I'm lazy haha it is pretty fun writing them in modern times so I might end up following it up. Thanks again for stopping by! I have a Winter themed story planned for them and a bunch of other ones too lol


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